Effects of car wash explosion still felt by Mt. Morris family living in tent outside home

MT. MORRIS, MI – After the foundation of her Buena Vista Avenue home was rocked during a July 13 car wash explosion across a parking lot, Mt. Morris resident Michelle Priemer set out to pick up the pieces.

She swept and vacuumed glass shards, lifted items knocked onto the floor by the blast and got help boarding up windows and doors, but all the work may have been in vain.

Priemer, her 12-year-old son Branden and 4-year-old daughter Cambria have been living in a tent staked in the grass of the home's yard, with a barbecue grill used to cook most meals, showering at a local gym and heading to a laundry to keep clothes clean.

The rubble from the explosion at On The Spot Car Wash in Mt. Morris remains visible from her backyard after the privacy fence was jolted loose by the event that could be felt and heard miles away.

Branden sat inside a shed with a friend playing video games on a borrowed television and video game system, helping to break the tedium of the day while Priemer holds conversations with her insurance company trying to get answers.

"It's keeping him occupied, you know," she said, with the family having visited the doctor to check their hearing and injuries from glass. "He's been a pretty good trouper through this."

A contractor advised Priemer the home had shifted during the blast, while asbestos was also found in the structure that was purchased in February 2012 by the family.

She was advised to box up clothes, blankets and shoes littered with glass and toss them out.

Neighbors Lewis Carroll and Brenda Evans, who live down the street at Maple Bend Apartments, have been helping out along the way.

"It's been a rat race down here, but we're maintaining," said Carroll, who came to the house immediately following the explosion to help board the doors and stay with the family into the early morning hours.

He was walking down the street when the explosion took place. He described the impact as "very, very devastating." Windows were blown out for block around, with walls pushed in at Grandma Kay's Country Kitchen next to the car wash.